Monday, April 30, 2007

Today we honor...

...Rush and Jellybean!

They were nominated for the Badge of Peace and Respect awards put on by the city today. Rush then went on to become the leader of her age group, receiving a little trophy and backpack as well as the framed certificate.

We are so proud of both girls and for all they have accomplished.

As well, today we honor the Mintos for winning the cup 2 consecutive years...first time in the cup's history! Way to go, Boys!!!!

Saturday, April 28, 2007

The newest Vanderbaby is here!!!

Some of you will likely say, "who the heck is that?"; others will, I know, say "yep, we know that."
But there is at least one of my readers (aka Billy) who will be very interested to know that the newest Vanderbaby has arrived and she got here today. Her name is Olivia and she is beautiful!!! If you want to see a picture of the little pumpkin take a gander here.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

First day of school...yesterday

Boy did my thinking brain hurt when I got to work last night and I think I was 100% ready for a snooze before my shift started. Good thing I was done early and got home by 10:00.

Classes were okay yesterday. I had no homework other than a bit of studying as we have daily quizzes in Bio.

Today may be tougher than yesterday though...I am scheduled to work 8 hours at BPs an hour after school is done. This may take a fair bit of getting used to...

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Check this out...

Jellybean made the front page of the Daily Stuff N' Fluff, the family paper...





Thursday, April 12, 2007

This is Kansas City calling; do you accept the charges??

Lately I have felt like I was losing my mind but when I talked to BigB it seems the same thing has been happening to him. For the last couple of weeks anywhere I go I see people we know from Kansas City: people we know really well and people we just recognize from the church. At first glance these people are the spitting image of these people we know. The second glance shows that they actually look nothing like our friends there. It has been really weird.

I have seen Pastor Steve, Doctor Mike, Justin, Phoebe's dad. Last night was when I was sure I saw Justin on the camera coming into the Emergency Room at the hospital. When they guy came in he looked ABSOLUTELY nothing like Justin.

This has been happening to BigB too but I have no idea who he has "seen". It is really quite weird though.

Monday, April 09, 2007

Technogeek toothfairy

Yesterday Jellybean worked and worked and worked on getting her third loose tooth out. She had given herself a deadline for last night before bed. I don't know why; she just did. Her reasoning was something along the lines of swallowing it but it wasn't that loose.

Towards the end of the afternoon she got her dad involved and asked him to bring out the "pliers" he had used the last time to be able to just grab the tooth. She lay there on the couch as BigB worked on the tooth and squeezed my hand from time to time but she was so very brave.

Thankfully, the tooth did come out before her bedtime and she rejoiced about that. Once the rejoicing was over though she asked BigB how the Toothfairy was going to know she had actually lost her tooth.

Dad's answer: I will email her and let her know, honey.

For those of you wonder: my day of orientation went really well and the nerves are done with. I go back on the 20th for registration and my first full day of classes will be the 23rd.

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Oh! Me nerves!

Why am I so darn nervous TODAY?! Today is orientation; that is all. So this is what I felt like on the first day of Kindergarten huh? My stomach is an absolute bundle of nerves and I think I am going to hurl...

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Productive Day

So today was somewhat of a productive day. At least I am hoping to view it that way. I didn't get a lot accomplished but I got Dixie her birthday present and cards (because I couldn't decide which one I liked better) and I got a cd of pictures burnt and delivered to my dad, which I have been promising for about a year now.

Why did I deliver Dixie's present so early...like 22 days? The answer to that is simple; I had the van. I had the money in my wallet to get it. I had her money for piano lessons which was past due AND I was afraid I would forget when the actual day came. Why would I forget? Well, technically not forget but I have a tendency lately of losing track of what the date is.

I called my step-dad 5 days after his birthday not becuase I didn't remember his birthday was coming but because that date on the calendar scooted past me and I didn't even realize until then.

I will just be in the process of adjusting to school and still working so I planned some preventitive maintenance, so to speak...she got it early.

Brenda, that means your present could arrive any day now too. However, I am thinking that since we see each other just about every Sunday I will be all right to wait for that one. It just seems so hard lately to get together with people. My cards for May are bought and filled out too...hopefully I will remember to get them in the mail.

Edited to add:

Okay, I just reread that and that sounds terrible!!! Absolutley terrible!!! It makes me sound forgetful and horrible and that my friends and family aren't important enough to remember on their birthdays!!! NO! NO! NO!!! That is not the case. They are so important to me that I want to make sure it doesn't seem like they have been overlooked or forgotten!

Tell me, is that better or worse? Is getting it early worse than it being a bit late given my reasons for bringing it early. I never thought that it could be taken as an insult until just now. Please let me know.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Dancing Queen

Just a couple of shots of Jellybean that I took after getting her dance pictures done. She is in full make-up and other than not having her purple balloon, she is in full costume. Their group this year is called "Don't Pop the Balloon".






















































Our little sharks...

As I had hoped I did manage to get the swimming pictures of my camera today so I am able to share them with you. So, without further ado, let's get this party started.















Bill wasn't able to get a picture of Bug actually jumping; he kept missing it so this is all we have for Bug's first jump.














Bug enjoying his last official SeaTurtle swim.














Jellybean diving underwater to pick up rings in their final "competition". It took her awhile to figure out how to do it but there's no stopping her now.


This is the third day of Jellybean diving so she is an old pro at it now...






















A great but blurry action shot of Jellybean diving off the low board. I am hoping it is just my monitor that makes it so dark...I think I need a new monitor...











Monday, April 02, 2007

This is what's been happening lately

Jellybean and Bug both passed their swimming lessons. Jellybean is now in Level 2 and Bug went from being a Sea Turtle to being a Salamander. Very exciting! Bug was another brave soul and HE went off the diving board last Saturday...TWICE! I was no where near as nervous this time as I knew what the teacher would be doing.

Jellybean had Dance pictures done. That was some pretty fancy footwork on my part. Swimming was done at 12:45 and we had to have Jellybean in full costume, with full dance makeup and a bun in her hair and in line for pictures at 1:15. It was tense for a couple of minutes but we pulled it off with only a small and very fixable hitch; I forgot to bring lipstick from home for her.

Rush began volunteering at the nursing home just across the street from us and is loving it. The first day she went she helped out with craft time; they made Easter hats. She never wants to make another hat again but it sounds like she had a great time and made one lady's day. Every Sunday afternoon she goes over and helps with tea time and one of the residents is trying to tell her she needs to ask for a full-time job. It's nice to know that she is making a good impression on the residents and that they like her.

Rush and Jellybean have both been nominated for the Badge of Peace and Respect, a local award coming up at the end of April. So, woohoo for them!!

BigB just came home from doing some computer work for friends of his, a nice Polish family. He came home stuffed from all the great food they made for him plus, he walked in the house carrying 2 big yogurt containers of honey. Yummy!!!

I will get pictures put up here possibly tomorrow of the kids and their swimming/diving board jumping.

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Is it that evident?

According to Rush she was raised by whales.


Apparently this is the only explanation for why she is....




...such a dork!!!